New entry to Hall of Fame unveiled

The Pro Football Hall of Fame unveiled its new two-story entrance Monday and showed off progress and completion of the first phase of its $27 million expansion project.

The Repository

Writer

Posted Jun. 11, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 11, 2012 at 11:22 AM

Posted Jun. 11, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 11, 2012 at 11:22 AM

CANTON

The Pro Football Hall of Fame on Monday unveiled the most noticeable section in the first phase of its “Future 50” $27 million expansion and renovation project.

A new two-story atrium entrance creates a dramatic effect for visitors coming into the hall.

The new entrance is in the center of the museum. The old entrance at the museum’s rotunda, which was used from 1963 until Sunday, is closed, said researcher Saleem Choudry.

“We’re going to complete the first phase next week,” Choudry said.

Ribbon cutting at the Ralph Wilson Jr. Research and Preservation Center will be held during Hall of Fame festivities, said Joe Horrigan, vice president of communication and exhibits.

The center, for storage of artifacts, documents and archives, will be a “white glove” area, he said.

The 10,800-square-foot addition will improve access to materials for historians and researchers, while the public will be able to glimpse it through windows.

The new entrance will help control outside air flow into the hall and aid a new museum-quality climate control system to regulate temperature and humidity throughout.

The conditions in the research center will be even more tightly controlled, and hall employees will handle all material for researchers, who will need advance permission just to be admitted.

The center is named after the owner of the Buffalo Bills, whose Ralph C. Wilson Foundation donated $2.5 million to support the expansion project.

The first phase also includes an event center across the hallway from the research facility, new administrative and curator offices, and a distance learning center that can connect with schools, Horrigan said.

“We’ll literally put Hall of Famers in classrooms.”

Much of work is complete, and all of it will be done before enshrinement festivities, he said. New outdoor event spaces for special events and private rentals are ready.

Other improvements coming after the enshrinement include a new orientation theater to give visitors some context about the museum and its displays and renovation of exhibition galleries in the original two-story rotund, which will be retrofitted with vapor barriers to help control temperature and humidity.

The spiraling ramp at the old entrance is likely to be removed and replaced with an elevator and grand staircase, Horrigan said. Also the museum retail store will grow from 4,000 square feet to 6,000 square feet.